Ewing residents and local musicians gather for benefit for victims of South Fork explosion

"This is friends helping friends, neighbors helping neighbors. Thereâs a real sense of community here, and we wanted to show our friends our support.â

EWING — It started out with a simple e-mail, a heads-up from a neighbor that the utility workers had hit a gas line and they might not have power for a couple of hours. But the phone call Tara Jones received just five minutes later had a much different tone.

“My same neighbor called me at work, just screaming,” Jones said. “She said there had been an explosion, and I knew I had to leave right away.”

Jones and her husband Bill are one of three families in the South Fork at Ewing neighborhood whose home is no longer standing at all after the March 4 gas explosion that left one woman dead, seven people injured and dozens displaced. The couple were also two attendees of a benefit held yesterday to help support them and neighbors who also were affected.

Organized by Ewing resident Amy Otey — a professional singer who goes by the stage name “Miss Amy” — the event was run for Ewing residents by Ewing residents, with local teachers, students and parents performing at Fisher Middle School all day to raise money for the families and awareness of the cause.

Volunteers at the event said a steady stream of attendees of all ages had been to the event throughout the day, and by 1 p.m., the benefit had already raised more than $3,500, according to volunteer Ted Forst. About 700 people came to the benefit over the course of the day, he said. All proceeds will be donated to the Ewing Disaster Relief Fund, which was created by the township in the wake of the explosion.

“This is friends helping friends, neighbors helping neighbors,” Otey said. “There’s a real sense of community here, and we wanted to show our friends our support.”

That message and the actions behind it were appreciated by the Joneses yesterday, who said it offered a relief not only to them but to their children.

“It’s just so wonderful to watch the kids dancing and smiling,” Tara said. “I’m seeing my son as he would normally be, happy and smiling.”

She said the incident had been especially hard on her 10-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, who were very close to their neighbor, Linda Cerritelli, who died in the explosion.

“They were really close. They knew Linda would always have lollipops for them,” Tara said, her voice shaking. “My daughter asked me why God took Linda. I told her ‘God has a reason for everything.’ I’m not sure why yet, but He always has an answer.”

Aside from losing a close friend and neighbor, the family has also lost all of their possessions, including heirlooms passed down from several generations and keepsakes marking milestones of their children’s lives. Since the investigation of the explosion is ongoing, they have not yet been able to search through the charred rubble for any remains of those items, they said.

“I don’t care about the furniture and the clothes and all that,” Tara said. “It’s the heirloom from my great aunt, the handprints my kids made every year. I’ll never get those back, and that’s the hardest part.”

What makes that pain easier for the family — who is living nearby with Tara’s parents — is the loving response they’ve received from the community. The outpouring of charity and good will also has helped keep Jeff King going after half of his house was destroyed in the explosion.

“The amount of support from the community has been just overwhelming,” he said. “We’ve gotten all sorts of clothes and more food than we could ever eat. If you’re going to have to live in a hotel, this is a much easier way to do it.”

While King said he and his wife were able to retrieve a few items from their home, their time there was limited as the house is now structurally unsound. That he is no longer living in his house because of the incident is still hard to completely comprehend, he said.

“My wife called me that day and said, ‘Our house blew up.’ My first thought was, ‘Clearly that didn’t happen,’” he said. “Security wouldn’t let us near our house. There was smoke everywhere. I watched the news from the West Trenton Fire House and it was so surreal. It still is.”

But the incident has also led to other unexpected realities, like how to explain what happened to his 3- and 6-year-old sons, King said.

“My oldest son asked me the other day if our house exploded, and I was unsure how much to tell him,” King said. “There’s been some nightmares, but he’s coping. I’m very excited for the concert today. It’s a great opportunity to come out and have a diversion.”

And volunteers at the event, who collected money at the door and sold donated pizzas along with candy and chips inside, seemed happy to offer that diversion to their neighbors.

“When you drive down that street near those houses, it’s really upsetting to look at,” said volunteer and Ewing resident Shawn Volz. “This is just a great way to show them how much we all care and are there for them.”